Today, I felt legitimately sad for the first time in quite some time. I've felt anxiety, I've felt apprehension, and I've felt stress plenty, but in terms of sadness, not a whole lot of, at least since the season finale of Dexter.
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But today, I signed over the title to my 2001 Nissan Sentra to CarMax, for a reimbursement that was slightly better than I had expected to make from it, considering the cat problems it had, and the fact that the brakes were starting to wear down. I know I went over about how much I loved that car, but sometimes words just can't describe everything. Needless to say, I'm going to miss the hell out of that car, and only hope that my new ride can be half as reliable as it was.
So sadness aside, I can at least rest a little easier these days, and not have to worry about a car that's going to have a new nagging problem of something other than engine, arise out of nowhere to increase my white hair count. Since driving is very much a part of my daily routine, I've moved on - my new ride is a 2003 Mazda6, which isn't that much younger than my previous car, but the price was better than right.
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It fulfills several criteria that I was hoping my next car to have:
- It is still a manual transmission
- More power, courtesy of a V6 engine instead of the inline-fours I've been driving in the past
- Small amenities, like heated seats
- Something I can put regular unleaded in, instead of the way I kept pumping in mid-grade to my old car
I'm more or less indifferent to the leather interior, but it's nice to be perceived as sophisticated as a result, but I have to imagine that come summertime, it's going to be hot as a bitch when I leave the ballpark sometimes. It doesn't have the sixth-gear that I said I wanted one of these days, but thanks to the six cylinders, it maintains a pretty low RPM in 5th gear when I'm cruising on the highway.
Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase, and it's going to be interesting getting used to a new vehicle over the coming weeks, months, and years. The clutch is still strong, and it has a slightly longer pedal travel than my old car, but there is a lot of low-end power, and I can really feel the variable valve timing kick in when I rise above 3,000RPM.
The new car, wasn't actually the only big purchase I made recently - throughout the last few years, I'd been sleeping on a futon that was better than your average futon, because the mattress was actually spring loaded. But it was still a futon, and one day, I woke up and realized that I wanted a real bed again. So I made it happen.
I found a frame that I liked, and I purchased it. And then I opted to actually get a mattress with a box spring, because I wanted to get some height again. Little did I realize just how much height I would be getting, because in the end, the frame, box spring, and mattress combined, make the usable surface space sit a good 35 inches off of the ground. Seriously, I have to climb into this bed, and the notion of simply sitting on the edge would be impossible, even for Dikembe Mutombo and maybe Gheorghe Muresan.
So it's been a pretty eventful week for me - new bed, new car. I'm back to having car payments for the next two years and some change, but at least I'll have a nice comfy and high bed to sleep in every night from now on.
Other than that, I can't really say much else is truly worth brogging about.
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All articles on these pages were all written by Danny Hong, unless otherwise credited.